Sweat Really is Just Fat Crying

The story.

Fat loss— what everyone seems to be after. But where does it go when you lose it?

CNN.com surveyed 150 doctors, dietitians, and personal trainers and the common theme was that most of them really didn’t know. The most common misconception was, by far, that fat is converted to energy. In fact, only three of the 150 health professionals gave the right answer.

Which is…

You exhale it! Sounds super weird, but fat is converted to carbon dioxide and water. You exhale the carbon dioxide and the water mixes into your circulation which you either expel as urine or sweat.

So sweat really is just fat crying.

In fact, for every 10 pounds of fat you lose, about 8.4 comes out through your lungs as carbon dioxide. You exhale almost all of it.

Great! A magic solution!

So this means we should just breathe heavy all the time, right? Wrong. That’s called hyperventilation— no bueno. The only way to consciously increase the amount of fat you lose by breathing is by moving those muscles and increasing your metabolic rate.